North Star

J.D. Long-Garía/CATHOLIC SUN

Stephen Underwood and Maddie Ray volunteer with Catholic Charities' North Star program, which is headed up by Diane DeLong, the director.

Catholic Charities helps teens say
yes to abstinence, no to drugs

For drug-free and abstinence programs to be effective, they have to be a little more persuasive than “Just say no.”

Catholic Charities’ North Star program, which targets youth in Yavapai County, goes beyond negative accounts of adolescent sex and drug use and deals with root causes.

Young girls’ negative body image would be one such cause.

“Girls of that age get a misconception of what is cool,” said Maddie Roy, a high school senior who regularly speaks with middle school girls about body image and health.

“You don’t have to conform to what others think,” she said. “It’s OK to not get into bad things in high school.”

Roy exemplifies how North Star works. Teenagers get involved with the leadership program and in turn become role models to younger children. Their role as leaders serving the community builds their self-image, helping the teens say no to drugs and yes to abstinence.

Each year, 40-50 teenagers will apply to be part of the North Star leadership team. Of those, 30 will be accepted. Some of the teens will be obvious leaders, but others will be chosen because they have yet to discover their potential.

“In school, they always identify the same kids as leaders,” explained Diane DeLong, North Star’s director. Leaders will typically be on student council, be athletic or get straight A’s, she said. But there are many others.

“Some of the kids have been told they’re not good at anything,” “Sometimes you have to find the gifts for them.” 

Getting a diverse group together is key. Middle school children will gravitate to role models that are more like them, DeLong said.

She told a story about a young girl who timidly shared that she played the clarinet. One of the five teen leaders exclaimed, “That’s awesome! I’m in band.” The younger girl straightened up and, according to DeLong, felt affirmed.

“I love it when I can’t label it,” she said of the leadership team. Members aren’t preppies or jocks or cheerleaders or bookworms. They’re all of these things. Maybe even skaters.

Another aspect of North Star — which works with numerous like-minded agencies — is drug, abstinence and health education. Those who volunteer to teach classes are good at it, according to DeLong. It’s not just finger wagging.

“Kids need to see the consequences of their actions,” she said. “When we talk about abstinence, we talk about the consequences. We back it up with facts.”

Teenagers need to think about how their actions will impact their future, she said. Making healthy choices will bring them closer to where they want to wind up.

Another program, called “Baby… Ready or Not,” shows teens just where they could wind up if they chose premarital sex. The three-day program gives teens life-like dolls that cry and simulate other lifelike qualities.

“On Friday, they’re excited, but on Monday they’re exhausted,” said Kasey Shaver, who organizes aspects of the program.

When the teens — mostly girls, but also boys — get their doll, they fill out a mock birth certificate for them. The teens will do some scheduling and journal and interact with their doll.

“They get to see what it could be like,” Shaver said. More than 340 teens have requested and experienced the program since November.

Another program, called Teen Maze, shows teens consequences for their actions. Volunteers interact with participants to show how their choices today can have a lasting impact on their lives.

Stephen Underwood, a high school senior, designed the media booth for the Teen Maze. He incorporated new aspects of consequences teens may face through technological advances.

“They could be charged with child pornography even though they’re e-mailing a photo of themselves,” Underwood said, noting that many teens are shocked to learn about this. “You could be labeled a sex offender for the rest of your life.”

Even delaying sexual activity could have drastic effects, he said. Consequences of teen pregnancy are more desperate with younger teens. In most cases, children of teen mothers will grow up in poverty — more than half of welfare mothers had their first child as a teenager. 

Poverty is the subject of a video project with which Underwood and Roy are also involved. The video project team interviewed Prescott residents about poverty in the city.

“We want to create awareness of poverty in the tri-city area,” Underwood explained. “I was aware of it, but I was shocked by the numbers.”

According to the video, the number of homeless persons increased 161 percent from 2007 to 2009 in West Yavapai County.

The video project, which will be aired on a local station, will also inform viewers of agencies there to help the poor.

You can see that what North Star seeks is systemic change.

“The adults in our community see these kids as our resources — resources that benefit the entire community,” DeLong said. “Sometimes the kids just need an opportunity to do something.”

Giving teens these opportunities and recognizing their value gives them the confidence to make better decisions. The teen leaders, in turn, help the younger children do the same. Little by little, problems like teen pregnancy, drug abuse and consequently poverty can diminish.

“It’s not going to work 100 percent of the time,” DeLong said, “but you’re not going to get any of them if you don’t try.”